A's sweep Minnesota, now a season-high three games over .500

The Athletics trounced the Minnesota Twins 9-4 Sunday to complete a three-game sweep to begin the second half, and have now won nine of their last ten.

In the series, the A’s outscored the Twins 24-10. The offense, along with strong pitching from A.J. Griffin, Tommy Millone and Jarrod Parker allowed A’s fans to get their brooms out.

A lot is said about this team’s youth, but t’s not just the young guys who are running with the momentum.

Jonny Gomes batted in the top third of the order for the first time this season, and looked good doing so.

Gomes went 3-4 with 2 RBI and 3 runs Sunday. Batting a power guy second may not be the most conventional choice, but it worked out today, at least. Gomes provides power in the A’s lineup, but his contributions may not last unless his power stays consistent.

Jemile Weeks’ average is creeping up (2 hits today), and the combination of him and Gomes showed its effectiveness today when Gomes went yard in the second inning, scoring Weeks who singled in front of him.

Plus, Gomes seems to be a positive influence in the dugout. As Glen Kuiper and Ray Fosse pointed out during the broadcast, Gomes will be awarded the Heart and Hustle Award for the third straight year this week. Having a veteran like that is nothing but positive for the young A’s squad.

Chris Carter looks like he’s figuring it out after being disappointing the last two years during his call-ups. A big power hitter, Carter has battled Adam Dunn syndrome in the majors being nothing but a home run hitter. This year, however, his swing looks much more refined, and he looks like a much more complete hitter with a .346 average and 5 home runs so far this season.

Yoenis Cespedes and Josh Reddick didn’t disappoint, either. The heart of the Oakland order went a combined 5-10 Sunday and 12-28 (.429) in the series. They’re both young, and relatively new to the big leagues with Cespedes coming from Cuba and Reddick not playing full-time last year, but they keep getting better and better each game.

The A’s hit nine homers in the series (4 in back-to-back games for the first time since 2001), which is only two shy of the Oakland record, so it was a bit of an offensive explosion power-wise. The hitting may not be quite as strong at home in a bigger ballpark, but the A’s certainly like hitting at Target Field.

Oakland has a day off Monday, but on Tuesday the A’s play a quick two-game set against the first-place Texas Rangers at O.co and then welcome the New York Yankees to town for a four-game series. With the momentum on Oakland’s side, the team has a chance to show they can compete for one of the two American League wild card spots with strong play against the top-level competition they’re up against over the next week.

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Don’t know where the power surge came from, but it didn’t hurt pounding the Twinkies for that embarrassing seep six weeks ago. This is why The Game is The Lame: significant A’s sweep and momentum and they have Rick Tittle ( the biggest supporter of the team next to Townsend on the station) do only a 20 minute postgame : for a flagship station, that’s embarrasiing. I’m sure tommorow will begin with” What’s right with Timmy”, followed by a “reset” 90 minutes later and little A’s coverage. Way to go PD Barrett!

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So true Tommy, they will double the talk about Tim compared to what they should be talking about…The Oakland A’s, the biggest joke for a Flagship station ever…LETS GO OAKLAND!!!

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I have to admit I was wrong, the Game gave the A’s the coverage they deserve…And to top it off Tierney was actually smashing the owner ship group for what they actually are…And us A’s fans know what that is.

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Yeah duly impressed with Tierney (hate to say that) today and hopeful new co-host Lincoln Kennedy (like him)…Lund is still a clown though even with the return of Papa.

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Watching this series gave me flashbacks of the Moneyball years and the 80’s. I know it was the Twinkies, but the A’s played brilliant ball. Could this be a rising young team?

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Get thru this week at home with the always tough Rangers (Beltre pounds the A’s as much as Willingham does) and Yankees at or better than 3-3 and I think you could warm up the wildcard talk.

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And yet no word on a Bay Area sports blog about the Earthquakes winning 5-0 of Real Salt Lake to prove they are the best MLS at the moment. Nice coverage fellas. And don’t give me this “soccer sucks” BS either. Get over yourselves if you think soccer sucks. It can be just as boring as baseball and hell, dare I say, even football.

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If you’ve read my responses to comments on another of my postings (the one about All-Star festivities), you’ll know I am a soccer supporter. But to reiterate what I said there, soccer is not near as popular as other sports, so it doesn’t get as much coverage. And, speaking form experience, soccer doesn’t get near as many reads as other sports, either. That may be changing (and that’s a good thing, in my opinion) but it hasn’t yet.

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